The 7th Component of Teaching Reading: Activities

Choosing an activity that specifically correlates to the sound/spelling pattern and/or sight words learned that week is critical to driving the instruction home. PLUS it is a fun and engaging way to celebrate all of that learning! All of my activities are things I would and have used in my classroom and teaching career. They are all created by a teacher (me!) to give your child the best review of the sound/spelling pattern worked on that week!

It’s simple! Just choose an activity that corresponds directly to the sound/spelling pattern learned that week. You can check out my Products page (just hover over the “Products” tab and select the drop down menu that works best for you! Or if you are doing the subscription then you will have an activity or two to pull from that specific bag.

You don’t have to do this exact layout of 7 steps in the order I have them in, but in my experience this is the most fluid way to help support your reader!

However, you could just use the activities, or you can mix and match as needed! Do what’s best for your family and your readers needs!

Sight Words (3-5 minutes): Introduce the sight words and do a quick flash card review. You can also do a quick sight word activity with those words, or just save sight word activities for fun games at the end, or for a separate mini lesson.

Sound/spelling card (1 minute): Introduce the visual sound/spelling card, specifically going over the sound and the picture used to help their minds associate that sound with a picture. Then talk about the spelling(s) of that sound.

Phonics (5 minutes): Write 5 words or so on a whiteboard. Underline the spelling in each word. Then choose between sound by sound, sound chunk, or whole word blending. Practice the words, and even a sentence or two if you have time.

Dictation (5 minutes): Choose a few words that were tricky in phonics, or that were not used in phonics that have the specific spelling pattern being worked on. Say the word to your child, have them stretch the sounds on their hand, then have them write the sounds down on their whiteboard or piece of paper. Make sure they underline the sound/spelling pattern. Have them read all the words back to you at the end, and of course check them for spelling.